Florida officials insist state is safe to visit

The Zika virus, Orlando massacre and death by alligator of a young boy at Disney have put damage control on the front burner.

By TAMARA LUSHAssociated Press

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TAMPA, Fla. — Thank goodness it’s the slow season in Florida.

At least that’s what officials and representatives of the state’s multibillion-dollar tourism industry are thinking in the wake of the news that 16 people have been infected with Zika in a small, trendy neighborhood in Miami.

The outbreak has sent another chill through the Sunshine State’s all-important tourism industry just weeks after the Orlando nightclub massacre and the killing of a 2-year-old boy by an alligator at nearby Walt Disney World.

Florida officials have gone into damage-control mode, with Gov. Rick Scott insisting, “We have a safe state!” during a tour of the Zika hot zone in Miami’s Wynwood district.

Outside of a few business owners in the affected square-mile neighborhood, however, Zika appears to have done little damage to tourism so far.

“We have not had anyone cancel a trip to Florida because of Zika,” said Jenny Cagle, vice president of Elm Grove Travel in Wisconsin. “It’s definitely a conversation. People are talking about it.”

Demetra Prattas, vice president of Turon Travel, a company that books art tours and trips, including the annual Art Basel festival that includes events in Wynwood, said: “I don’t think it’s a factor in deciding where to go. We’ve had no cancellations.”

The governor has been on something of a statewide Zika tour, meeting with county health officials and business owners in Miami and along the Interstate 4 corridor that runs through Orlando. He said tourists should use caution and not worry about mosquitoes, adding that Florida knows how to prepare for crises because of its hurricanes.

“We will make sure all the tourists feel comfortable coming to Florida,” he said Thursday in Wynwood, site of the first mosquito-transmitted cases of Zika on record in the continental U.S.

He said the state is doing everything it can to test people, spray against mosquitoes, get rid of the standing water and encourage people to use repellent.